Friday, July 22, 2011

Let the Countdown Begin!

The past several months have been very hard in many ways, but I am so happy to see a light at the end of the tunnel - I only have three more radiation treatments to go! I will officially be done with all of my treatments (chemotherapy and radiation) at 9:30am on Wednesday, July 27th! Let the countdown begin! For the first time in nine months, I will not be making weekly (or daily) trips to the Lewis Cancer Center! I am still feeling pretty fatigued and my skin will continue to be sore for some time, but it should begin healing itself over the next several days.

Here is my radiation machine. The giant microscope-looking thing
is what is used to send the "radioactive energy" through my body. 
This is my "graduation certificate" from radiation...(it's my appointment card for my follow-up appointment,
but another cancer survivor told me she felt like it was more of a graduation certificate).
Another exciting part of finishing my treatment is that we are going to our annual family vacation in Florida the day after I finish radiation. When I mentioned that to my doctors they were not very pleased...I guess they frown upon beach vacations when you are not even allowed to be in the sun! I’m excited, though. I will have to use some special sunscreen and keep my upper body covered, but I am excited to play in the pool and at the beach with my precious children, my sister and brother-in-law, my nieces and nephew, my mother and her husband, and my grandparents! It will be a special time!

As excited as I am for radiation to be over, it does mean that we will be saying goodbye to our wonderful friend Bethany. She has been such a blessing to our family over the past few months. We will miss her dearly!

Bethany and Hudson at the "Savanah Zoo" (also known as Bass Pro Shop).